"You go on, and you engage in a lot of embroidery which is making this very long," he said.

While the commission has set aside a week to hear from Nazarian, it is possible his testimony could continue into next week.

"I ask you to simply concentrate on the question of Mr. Doody or any other lawyer asking you — to respond to that question — not to go on with other stuff, because it's going to make this eternally long," Belanger said.

During testimony Wednesday, Nazarian said in 2008 a company jack-hammered holes in the mall's already leaking roof-top garage, creating an even worse problem.

Nazarian was on the stand again Thursday for a third day of testimony.

The public inquiry was established in July 2012 by the Ontario government and has been underway in Elliot Lake since March.

It was created to report on events surrounding the mall roof's collapse on June 23, 2012, the deaths of Lucie Aylwin and Doloris Perizzolo, the injuries to others, and the emergency management and response.